NHL.com's McGourty names 'Top ten Russians in NHL history,' and four Wings make his cut

NHL.com's John McGourty proffers a list of the top ten Soviet/Russian-trained hockey players, with a caveat: he notes that several players, including Ekaterinburg-raised Pavel Datsyuk, were actually born in locales that are no longer parts of the former Soviet Union.

Not surprisingly, the Red Wings have a heavy presence on McGourty's list:

November 20, NHL.com: 1. Igor Larionov -- Inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame this year after retiring in 2004 with 169 goals and 475 assists for 644 points in 921 NHL games. But Larionov didn't enter the NHL until he was 29, after a 12-year career with Voskresensk and the Central Red Army in the Soviet League.

Larionov won three Stanley Cups with the Detroit Red Wings. He also won two Olympic gold medals, four World Championships and a World Junior Championship with the Soviet Union.

Larionov was not only a winner, but he made a major impact on hockey as an innovator of offensive attacks and as a rebel against the Soviet domination of players. It was Larionov's dangerous work within the system that led to Russian players joining the NHL in 1989. He suffered many personal setbacks, with no guarantee of success, but his insistence on change made hockey better worldwide.

2. Slava Fetisov -- The first of the Soviet Union's "Green Unit" to be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2001. Fetisov was paired with defenseman Alexei Kasatonov behind the line of Igor Larionov, Sergei Makarov and Vladimir Krutov for eight seasons. Fetisov was the captain of the Soviet national team and the Central Red Army team. Fetisov was the top defenseman at the 1978 World Juniors and made the All-Star Team. He was named to the All-Star Team nine times at World Championships and was Best Defensemen five times. He played on nine Olympic or World Championship teams.

Fetisov joined the New Jersey Devils in 1989 and played five seasons with them before being traded to the Detroit Red Wings in 1995. He won two Stanley Cups with Detroit in 1997 and 1998 and another as an assistant coach with the Devils in 2000. Fetisov had 36 goals and 192 assists in 546 NHL regular-season games and two goals and 26 assists in 116 Stanley Cup Playoff games.

3. Sergei Fedorov -- Played four years for the Central Red Army team before defecting to the United States at the 1990 Goodwill Games in Seattle. He scored 31 goals for Detroit in 1990-91 and was the runner-up to Eddie Belfour for the Calder Trophy. The next season, he was the runner-up to Guy Carbonneau for the Selke Trophy as best defensive forward. He won the Selke in 1994 and 1996. He also won the 1994 Hart and Pearson Trophies after posting 56 goals and 64 assists and a plus-48 rating. Fedorov was nearly a point-a-game producer when the Red Wings won the 1997 and 1998 Stanley Cups, putting up 20 points both years. He had 5 goals and 14 assists in 23 Stanley Cup Playoff games when Detroit won again in 2002.

Fedorov played 13 seasons in Detroit, two in Anaheim, three in Columbus and the past two in Washington. He has 476 goals and 679 assists in 1,208 NHL regular-season games and is plus-263. He also has 91 game-winning goals. In 169 Stanley Cup Playoff games, Fedorov has 51 goals and 117 assists, 11 game-winning goals and is plus-37.
...6. Pavel Datsyuk -- This Red Wing is reigning most gentlemanly player in the NHL, having won the Lady Byng Trophy the past three years. He is also the reigning Frank J. Selke Trophy winner as the NHL's best defensive forward. This from a player coming off a season in which he led the Detroit Red Wings to the Stanley Cup as their leading scorer during the regular season with 31 goals and 66 assists. Only Datsyuk, Ted Lindsay, Gordie Howe and Steve Yzerman have led Detroit in scoring for three-straight seasons.

Datsyuk was the second-leading scorer in the 2008 Stanley Cup Playoffs with 10 goals and 13 assists in 22 games, four points behind teammate Henrik Zetterberg, the Conn Smythe Trophy winner. Datsyuk was a rookie in 2001-02 when he won his first Stanley Cup with the Red Wings.